118 ON JUSTIFICATION.
is the Holy Ghost; whence we are said to be "justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," 1 Cor. vi. 11; and the instrumental cause thereof on tlie part of God, which is the " promise of the gospel," Rom. i. 17; Gal. iii. 22, 23. It would, therefore, be unduly pretended, that by this assertion we do narrow or straiten the object of justifying faith as it justifies; for, indeed, we assign a respect unto the luliole mediatory office of Christ, not ex- cluding the kingly and prophetical parts thereof, Ijut only such a notion of them as would not bring in more of Christ, but much of ourselves, into our justification. And the assertion, as laid down, may be proved, —
(1.) From the experience of all that are justified, or do seek for justification according unto the gospel: for under this notion of seeking for justification, or a righteousness unto justification, they were all of them to be considered, and do consider themselves as v'ffodixoi Tw Qbw, — "guilty before God," — subject, obnoxious, liable un- to his VvTath in the curse of the law; as we declared in the entrance of this discourse, Rom. iii. 19. They were all in the same state that Adam was in after the fall, unto whom God proposed the relief of the incarnation and suffering of Christ, Gen. iii. 15. And to seek after justification, is to seek after a discharge from this woful state and condition. Such persons have, and ought to have, other designs and desires also. For whereas the state wherein they are antecedent unto their justification is not only a state of guilt and lurath, but such also as wherein, through the depravation of their nature, the poiuer of sin is prevalent in them, and their whole souls are defiled, they design and desire not only to be justified, but to be sanctified also ; but as unto the guilt of sin, and the want of a righteousness before God, from which justification is their relief, herein, I say, they have respect unto Christ as " set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." In their design for sanctification they have respect unto the kingly and prophetical offices of Christ, in their especial exercise ; but as to their freedom from the guilt of sin, and their acceptance with God, or their justification in his sight, — that they may be freed from condemnation, that they may not come into judgment, — it is Christ crucified, it is Christ hfted up as the " brazen serpent" in the wilderness, it is the blood of Christ, it is the propitia- tion that he was and the atonement that he made, it is his bearing their sins, his being made sin and the curse for them, it is his obedi- ence, the end which he put unto sin, and the everlasting righteousness which he brought in, that alone their faith doth fix upon and acqui- esce in. If it be otherwise in the experience of any, I acknowledge I am not acquainted with it. I do not say that conviction of sin is the only antecedent condition of actual justification; but this it is
THE ESPECIAL OBJECT OF FAITH. 110
that makes a sinner " subjectum capax justificationis." No man, therefore, is to be considered as a person to be justified, but he who is actually under the power of the conviction of sin, with all the necessary consequents thereof. Suppose, therefore, any sinner in this condition, as it is described by the apostle, Rom. iii., " guilty before God," with his " mouth stopped" as unto any pleas, defences, or excuses; suppose him to seek after a relief and deliverance out of this estate, — that is, to be justified according to the gospel, — he neither doth nor can wisely take any other course than what he is there directed unto by the same apostle, verses 20-25, " Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe ; for there is no differ- ence : for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." Whence I argue, —
That which a guilty, condemned sinner, finding no hope nor relief from the law of God, the sole rule of all his obedience, doth betake himself unto by faith, that he may be delivered or justified, — that is the especial object of faith as justifying. But this is the grace of God alone, through the redemption that is in Christ ; or Christ proposed as a propitiation through faith in his blood. Either this is so, or the apostle doth not aright guide the souls and consciences of men in that condition wherein he himself doth place them. It is the hlood of Christ alone that he directs the faith unto of all them that would be justified before God. Grace, redemption, propitiation, all through the blood of Christ, faith doth peculiarly respect and fix upon. This is that, if I mistake not, which they will confirm by their experience who have made any distinct observation of the actings of their faith in their justification before God.